Wake Forest Athletics
33 NFL Scouts Observe Deacons At Pro Day
3/19/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
March 19, 2007
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Thirty-three NFL scouts were on hand to watch a group of former Deacons and other area NFL prospects at Wake Forest's annual Pro Day on Monday morning.
The participants included Jon Abbate, Bryan Andrews, Pierre Easley, Josh Gattis, Patrick Ghee, Willie Idlette, Nate Morton, Riley Swanson, Jyles Tucker and Steve Vallos. Each had the opportunity to perform the 225-pound bench press, broad jump, sit and reach, 40-yard dash, three-cone shuttle, short shuttle and long shuttle.
Because the times were clocked individually by each scout on a digital stopwatch, the times were subjective and no official information was available.
The day concluded with position coaches from several NFL teams, including the Bears and the Dolphins, conducting position-specific drills with the prospects.
Abbate, who is ranked by ESPN as the fifth-best inside linebacker available in the draft and the 94th player overall, continues to be hampered by a hamstring injury suffered two days prior to the NFL Combine. Abbate, who had 297 tackles in three seasons with the Deacons, completed the weight room workouts without difficulty, but the hamstring injury flared up in the final yards of his first 40-yard dash. He was unable to participate in a second running of the 40, the shuttle runs and position drills.
Easley also suffered a hamstring injury during his 40-yard dash and was forced to sit out the remaining runs and drills.
Gattis, a 2006 honorable mention All-American and first team All-ACC selection, is ranked by ESPN as the seventh-best safety available in the draft and the 107th player overall. He will have private workouts with individual NFL teams this week.
The 2007 NFL Draft will take place April 28-29 in New York.
